In the second of a round of four exhibitions featuring eight artists, Randall Scott Gallery in Washington D.C. presents new works by Peter Van Agtmael and Jessica Dimmock. Both artists explore elements of photojournalism in a unique way as their subject matter documents scenes of military and social conflict.

Peter Van Agtmael enters international war zones to document truth as rarely seen. The photographer seeks to capture images of humanity and offer them to the greater public in an attempt to provoke awareness and change. Van Agtmeal is a member of the prestigious Magnum photojournalist association and has recent received acclaim for his work from Critical Mass.

Jessica Dimmock is a photojournalist working within social documentary, capturing scenes of the human condition as experienced by a drug addict. Her series Ninth Floor takes place in an upscale Manhattan neighborhood and provides a honest look a the frailty of the human mind and body. Dimmock is an associate member of the photo-journalistic agency, VII.

On view this summer at the Lawrimore Project in Seattle will be new photographs by Seattle-based artist Isaac Layman in his second solo exhibition with the gallery, Photographs From Inside A Whale. Layman is a photographer that is interested in stretching the truth and very nature of photography in such a subtle way that the viewer is hardly aware that any manipulation has taken place. Yet, within each photograph, the artist has carefully stitched together several images to make a “perfect image” where everything is in complete focus and appears in better quality that even the human eye can capture. Equally interesting to the artist is photographic play. Layman has created a large rectangular image in the White Cube portion of Lawrimore Project the “reflects” the gallery floor below. The 12-foot image creates an illusion of a mirror, when in actuality the viewer is responding to a photographic print. The exhibition constantly calls into question the viewers experience with both reality and photography, and space in-between. Layman received his BFA in Photography from the University of Washington in 2002. He was a member of S.O.I.L. in Seattle before having his first solo exhibition at Lawrimore Project in 2007. The artist currently lives and works in Seattle.

In Jack Hanley Gallery‘s 389 Valencia Street space in San Francisco, Michelle Blade is exhibiting large scale paintings on Dura-lar along with some sculptural pieces in the exhibition The Elliptical Good-Kind. In her compositions, Blade transitions from gestural to more more restrained brush styles. Washes of color are punctuated by areas of greater detail, while a constant undercurrent of mystery pervades all of her work.

Blade’s compositions emphasize the vastness of nature, and explore man’s place within. Her captivating imagery invokes Romantic sublimity, with anonymous figures rendered in silhouette gathering in groups, dancing, and celebrating some unknown event. The artist insists her paintings are an exercise in “questioning and understanding humanity, and what drives us to form relationships with one another, build societies and then break ties to try and create something better and stronger”.

The artist received her B.F.A. from California College of the Arts and has previously exhibited at V1 Gallery in Copenhagen, and Space 1026 in Philadelphia. She was included in Nylon‘s May 2008 issue and has been interviewed by FecalFace.com. Her work will remain at Jack Hanley Gallery until August 8, 2008.

Jung Eun Park‘s work is a combination of drawing and sewing on Korean paper that is often dyed with coffee or tea. While sitting or laying on the paper, Park creates symbolic images, mesmerizing in both their detail and overall simplicity. This physical connection to the work during production is important to the artist who states “I can feel the touch and the smell of paper with all of my body and senses.”

The artist uses materials such as thread, plastic, fabric, buttons, and pills, creating a tactility and texture beyond that of the paper.

Jung Eun Park works in projects, with their titles lending clues to their meaning. Recent works include The Womb, Cell Story, Red Thread, The Room of Obsession, and Silence is Waiting. The artist shares definite formal and psychological similarities with acclaimed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Park’s interest in repetition, accumulation, and exhausting detail recall Kusama’s “infinity nets.”

The artist received a B.F.A. from Kookmin University in Seoul in 2003 and a M.F.A. from Pratt Institute in 2007 and was included in Lana Santorelli Gallery‘s Young Emerging Artists show in New York earlier this year.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in conjunction with the Biennale of Sydney is currently showcasing a selection of works, centered on the theme of Revolutions- Forms that Turn. Many of the works on display have attracted controversy following a series of complaints by patrons. Maurizio Cattelan‘s Novecento, which consists of a dead horse hanging from the gallery ceiling has outraged animal rights groups, while Leon Ferrari‘s Western Christian Civilization depicting Jesus crucified to a plane has also been deemed offensive by some. Other artists whose works are part of the display include Rosemary Laing, Miroslav Tichy, Tracey Moffat and Anawana Haloba.

Rosemary Laing has studied at several Australian institutions including The College of Fine Arts, Paddington, Sydney College of the Arts and The Tasmanian School of Art. Her work has appeared in various group and solo shows on an international scale, at galleries including Galerie Lelong, New York, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland and Queensland Art Gallery. She has won several awards for her art practice including the Australian Research Council Grant from the University of New South Wales, The Perc Tucker Acquisition from Townsville Regional Gallery and the Blanche Louisa Buttner Bequest, Queensland Art Gallery.

A new collection of works by Sydney photojournalist James Brickwood opens this week at the Australian Centre for Photography, Paddington. The exhibition is a documentation of the annual Schoolies week, an end of year vacation for year 12 high school graduates. Brickwood documents drunken pashes, messy hotel rooms and the sunny beachfronts of Queensland’s Gold Coast, which predominantly hosts the graduation festival.

Brickwood is a freelance photographer who has completed numerous projects for leading Australian publications including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun Herald. While best known for documenting Australian youth culture, as witnessed within series such as Schoolies and Sydney Jungle (an exploration of Sydney’s underground drum and bass music scene), he has also photographed various poignant subjects including the aftermath of the 2004 boxing day tsunami devastation in Sri Lanka and the funeral of late actor, Heath Ledger. He has recently been appointed a member of Oculi, a group of Australian award winning photo journalists. He has received various awards for his art practice including a highly commended within the sports category at the 2007 Nikon-Walkley Photographic Awards as well as becoming short listed for the 2007 Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize.

The Prestige is a new work by Chicago-based artist Jeff Zimmermann featuring a small room-sized cage with a with a grouping of contained cellophane balloons. Zimmermann, who is known largely for his large-scale paintings and public wall murals, has been experimenting with more conceptual, object-based installation and sculpture including SHARE, a single barrel of light sweet crude oil in a highly polished container, and an untitled work featuring footwear from a Peruvian working child on a long red carpet. Zimmermann debuted many of these works for the first time at NEXT an invitational exhibition of emerging art in Chicago this past May. Zimmermann has completed a recent artist in residence with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and solo exhibition with Swope Art Musem in Terra Haute, Indiana. DailyServing featured the artist for his mural projects in November of 2007.